[203] Exploring Awareness: A Journey into Mindful Presence with Andrea Loreto

7:44PM Apr 21, 2025

Speakers:

Keywords:

Meditation

awareness

mindfulness

inner goodness

compassion

wisdom

breathing

presence

distraction

walking meditation

open awareness

sound meditation

relaxation

mindfulness practice

daily life.

Hello, hello, welcome, welcome. Okay, okay, so we made it. We made it again. And so nice to be here with you. Thank you for coming, everybody. It's really, it's really a joy to be here. And I'm very, very excited. And so I will start this today's section with with with the practice that is very, very short, but it really helps to ground ourselves. It's the is the hand on heart that you probably know Andrew really loves, and it's deceitfully simple, so deceitfully because, actually it's very, very deep and but it's simple. It's very simple. We'll go. We'll talk on that later on. Anyway, take your meditation posture, please. So basically, be in a stable position, comfortable with your spine loosely straight, and tuck your chin a tiny bit inside so that you can actually elongate the last the final part of your spine as well. Take your hand, put it on your heart and just breathe. That's it. Don't do absolutely anything else. Just breathe. You

I feel how the breath inflates your chest or your belly, and just be aware of it.

So in these few moments, we just want to create the Space,

the right space for our meditation, and also, we want to set an intention that our meditation in our meeting today will be of benefit, Not only to ourselves, but To all sentient beings and

Okay,

so I think that this extremely simple but very powerful and extremely short practice at the beginning of our meeting is it's really important because it helps to sort of set up the space, I mean, to really create that relaxed, relaxed environment where we can actually meditate and learn and exchange our our feeling and comments more more easily. And so it's a very it's a very important, it's a very important time of. Okay, last time, I talked about a tiny bit about how each of us has an inner goodness, and that is always present with us. And most of our problems, most of our uneasiness, it's is due to the fact that we forgot how to get in touch with this inner goodness we have. So basically, we don't, we don't we don't remember that we are good. We don't remember that we have this core, this beautiful core made out of of beautiful qualities, and we are all exactly the same in there. I mean, each of us has it, even the people who towards which we are less prone to see goodness. But all of us have it, and that's something that we all have in common. What is this score? This core is basically made by three important aspect these sort of three different phases of the same of the same aspect of the same goodness. And basically these are awareness, love and compassion and wisdom. So as I said, I mean, it's, you see, meditation basically turned out to be just a a journey of discovery. So we don't build anything we it's not that we have to improve ourselves. We have just to rediscover, to go back to our innate goodness through awareness, love and compassion and wisdom. So the question is, how can we recognize them? How can we actually get in touch with awareness, love and compassion and wisdom? And that's where meditation come to the rescue. Today, I I would like briefly to to share with you some ideas about about awareness. So what is awareness? Basically, this is a great, a great question that has been debated for a very long time, but I think that we can define awareness as, you probably know, but like, simply, like the capacity to know things, so the capacity to realize what's happening, the capacity to see, the capacity To hear, and so is this potential, potentiality to know potentiality to know things. And of course, this is something that is always with us, any time of the day, any time of the night, even when we sleep. And in this Andrew can actually talk for hours how how important it is to bring our awareness into our own sleep, right? That can be Lucid Dreaming, can be can be yoga, sleep, yoga and and so on and so forth. So it's really it's always with us, if we know it or not, the important things is to get in touch with it. So let's make you see it's basically like a container is like a space where everything happens, where everything can happen. So the container itself has no shape or anything, but it's just there. It's like the sky, okay, just imagine the sky that's awareness and whatever happened in there. So Thunderbolt and fog and clouds, they're all things that happen within awareness. So it's basically the space where all phenomena take place. So it's an infinite potential. Now, how can see? How can we see awareness? Can you see my hand? Well, if you can see my hand, you are aware of my hand. So you actually got in touch with awareness in other exercise.

Can you hear the sound? If you can hear the sound, you're aware of the sound. And so again, once again, you got in touch with awareness. So you see, this is very this is something very simple, you know, it's something actually, the real problem is that it is too simple. It's something that is really, is really too close, is near, is really too near, and then we cannot see it, because we cannot really focus on it. It's too simple. And. We can believe it, but you see, the the essence of meditation is awareness. So if we are aware, we are meditating. And this can seem a tiny bit counter intuitive, but it's, but it's a very, very profound, very, very profound statement. So but we are not always aware of what's happening around us. We are not always in touch with awareness. For instance, I'm sure that it happened to you. Sometimes you take a car, you have to go shopping or to visit a friend, and then you start driving. You turn on the car, and then you get at your final destination. They say, if you think how you get there, you don't remember. So basically, the whole time that you don't remember all that piece of the chunk of time of experience is lost because it's not been brought into awareness. In other example, you have a book that you love and you're really excited about it, and you start page one is wonderful. Page two, page three, then you get to page 17, and you say, Okay, what happened between page three and page 17? So don't remember absolutely anything so that's that's another, that's another example of how deceitful, how how difficult can actually be to be aware, to be present in the present, but to be in the present moment. Actually, there has been, there has been a lot of studies on lately, on this, on this topic. And one is a study of, I think, 2010 that the scientific studies that it's entitled, The wandering mind is an unhappy mind. So basically, I don't remember exactly how, but I think through analyzing the data from people cell phones, they realize that 47% of the time people are distracted, so that very that's a significant amount of time, basically means that half of your life you are distracted. And if you are distracted, it's as if you didn't leave in the end. So we should really, we should really try to avoid as much as possible, the the what, what Andrew call device of mass, this destruction, basically the phone, the TV and so on and so forth, but basically everything that bring us away from from this awareness and so what's really interesting to me is that, and it's really one of the core principle that I always try to keep in mind and and and to bring forward in my in my meeting, in my discussions, is that one can bring awareness in everyday life. So awareness that is again, is the is the essence of meditation, is something that does not necessarily only happen on a cushion, but it happens also in daily life. So that means that you can be aware, so you can be in contact with that beautiful part of your own goodness, doing basically everything you can be aware of, of the fact that you're walking, and that's called walking meditation, and is no different from just strolling about. But what's different is how, how you relate to the walking. So sometimes you walk, I don't even know where you're going. Other times, you walk with awareness. So basically, you pay attention to your foot one after the other. You realize what's going on. You feel the breeze on your face. If you see the sun, you see the leaves of the of the trees. You listen to the traffic or to anything else, and you're really present. That's meditation, even if you're working, even if you're walking. The same thing can happen with the cooking. You know, if you're cooking, you don't have just to fry the toss the garlic in the oil to prepare your sauce. But really pay attention to the smell of the garlic, how it changes from when it's fresh, when you cut it and peel it and and how it is different when it actually sit, when it's actually sitting in the hot oil and listen to the sizzle and so on and so forth. So you can meditate while you're cooking. You can meditate anytime, anywhere. How. However you are, wherever you are. And that's something extremely, extremely important. Again, it's something very simple. It's something that we tend to forget, but is extremely, is extremely important. The same thing you see, if we, if we become really connected with awareness, our life changes dramatically. Why? Because, basically what we do, we start we start acting and not reacting. Because if we are present in the moment, we really always put a little bit of time, just a fraction of a second of time, between what happens and how we react to that, because we are aware, if we are aware of the little distance, then everything changes. Because we are not impulsive. We don't do things that then we regret, but we take a breather, as you would say, okay, so there is this has got also extremely, extremely practical. Implication again. So let's do another beautiful meditation. And this meditation, it's on, on awareness of the sound. Okay, so we actually try to put in practice. What, what I just blubbered about. Okay, so again, please sit in your in your meditation posture.

So keep your spine loosely, straight, not too tight, not too loose. Keep your eyes open or closed, whatever works for you. I usually keep them open because it tells me not to drift away, but it once again to be more present if your eyes are open. But really, that's personal preference. Just keep your gaze relaxed on the floor, or if you just a few feet ahead of you downward, because this helps your your system, helps your body to to relax, and again, it's a way to create the right space for our meditation. You

us now try allow yourself to really settle in this moment, feel the support beneath you, and take a few breaths. As you exhale, feel any tension in your body begin to dissolve.

Just enjoy this very simple exercise, just breathing can change how you feel if you're able to relax, that's great. If you're tense, go to many things, thoughts and you're not able to relax, it's okay. Just be aware, once again, that you are not able to relax. Be aware of the fact that you're tense, but don't judge it. Just let it be. Just look at your tension. You

now, please bring your attention to pleasant sounds, maybe some birds,

maybe the sound of the leaves and the breeze, or

maybe even just this soothing rhythm of your own breath and.

I simply know that you are breathing, simply know that you are listening to sounds.

Be aware of sounds without having to do absolutely anything,

as long as you know you are Hearing you are practicing simply knowing sound is meditation and

not Doing anything while hearing the sounds means that you allow even thought and emotions to be there. If you find yourself commenting on the sounds, no problem. Allow that to be there and be aware of sounds as long As you know you are hearing, you are practicing. You

I stay present with the sounds you're hearing, thoughts, emotions, physical sensations. They cannot come and go in the background, stay here while being aware of the sounds you

in meditation, it's common for the mind to get distracted and drift off like A leaf in a gentle breeze. No problem there. That's part of the training. That's the practice. As soon as you notice that something happens, as you notice that you are distracted, you have already returned to awareness, noticing your distractions is being aware of it,

and again, gently guide your attention to the sounds that surround you and simply know that you are hearing you.

Every time you notice your mind wandering, you're not failing at meditation, rather, you are succeeding in awareness. Each return is an opportunity to connect with awareness a sense of inner peace. Just allow yourself to be aware of sounds.

Gradually let your attention expand to encompass neutral sounds, those background noises that are neither particularly pleasant not bothersome, like an air conditioner, The kicking of a clock, the distant sound of traffic, even the sounds that are so mundane and often overlooked can become object of meditation, teaching us to maintain presence In the Present moment you

simply notice these sounds, allowing them to flow through your awareness when thoughts or emotions connected to the sounds occur simply allow them to be without having to change

your experience. You

now expand your awareness of sound to include more challenging, distracting sound, unpleasant sounds, maybe a construction site nearby, maybe someone talking, someone honking in traffic. Just be aware of those. Every sound, every moment, is an opportunity for practice.

Approach the sounds not as disturbances but as invitations to deepen your practice of being aware of sound And

I listen to this sound with the same awareness as the pleasant and neutral sounds, observe their impact on your Mind and body without getting caught in stories or judgments.

Finally, let go of focusing on any particular sound and rest in the silence that underlies and envelopes old sounds.

The silence is not an absence, but a presence, a fertile ground from Which all sounds emerge and to which it returns you.

The rest here in this open, expansive awareness where sounds and silence meet and

as you rest in awareness, no need To change your state of mind in any way. Within awareness, all sounds are allowed continue to rest and be aware while undistracted you

in this space, you may find the profound sense of peace a reminder that between the seriousness activity of the world and the mind lies in unshakable stillness.

Simply know that you're hearing this knowingness is boundless awareness, which is natural and effortless and it's always available you

as we conclude this meditation, let's try to recognize how even sounds can serve as a support for greater Mindfulness, presence and peace, and let's try to carry this awareness with us as we move through our day, knowing that every sound from the delightful to the unpleasant, can Be a doorway to connections with the present moment. You

okay. Thank you very much for meditating with me. Is there any remark and impression that you want to share? I Yeah,

thank you, Monika did. Is in the in the in the chat. Monica actually said that she just started the joy of living and the fact that I am a teacher, they are not job living, but of anytime, anywhere, meditation, it's a synchronicity. Yes, it is synchronicity and and actually it's amazing, because you see, sometimes we there are little synchronicity happens. You know, things happens, and it's just a matter of being open to that and just and just realize what's what's going on. And then we start seeing connections, seeing things that seems really happening by chance, but probably, probably are not happening by chance.

Charlie and Martha say, thank you so very much. Thank you so very much to be here and to share you. A

mission extraordinarily, extraordinarily profound, but my neighbors are still a probe that is unpleasant, but not as corrosive. So that's great, you see, because unfortunately, we have, I mean, life happens, right? We have neighbors. There are noises and everything is sometimes can be annoying. But you know again, that if we, if we take all these little headaches, all these little problem, all these nuisances with awareness. I mean, within our own spacious awareness, they actually sort of get diluted in a way. It's like there's this example that I'm not 100% convinced about, but it keeps recurring in my in my head. It's like when, when you are in a small room with a tiger, right? Of course, I mean, you are, you're worried because the tiger is there. And, I mean, is, it's not fun, but to try to see the same tiger in a in a football stadium. Okay? She just sent to the football stadium on the other side, and you're sitting on the on the top of the of the stairs on this side, the the tiger is the same, right? It's the same Tiger, but it's not so near. It's not so scary. It's not so worrisome because it's far away. So I mean, if you manage to put some kind of some kind of space between you and the tiger, or any problem that can occur in our lives, then it's really, that's really, that's really helpful and really helps make making our life easier and more more more livable. And again, that's another that. This is another example of how meditation is not only something to be done on the cushion, but it's something that you should bring into your daily life, lives, because that's really when the rubber hit the road. That's that's really when, when you see the power of meditation, that is something practical, that is something that do help you a lot. Anyway, I have another couple of simple points that I would like to share with you before meditating again together. Okay, yeah, I just wanted to say a few words about the difference between meditation and mindfulness. Sorry, awareness and mindfulness, they're very similar, and in everyday language, usually we get confused and we use them interchangeably, but if we want really to split the hair, it's mindfulness. Is when we are mindful of something Okay, or we are not mindful of something while instead, for instance, when we pay attention to a sound, or we don't pay attention to a sound, so it's something that happens in the moment. But awareness, it's always there. So we can actually say the mindfulness happens within the realm of awareness. Awareness, it's always there. It's like a canvas on which everything happens, on which everything gets painted. So awareness is like the sky. Clouds come and go. You just look at them, and if you look at the clouds, you are mindful of the cloud. Out, but they are not the sky. Then just to close, meditation on awareness can be conceptual or beyond concept. The one that we did, the one that we just did together, the meditation on sound, is actually conceptual, because we use a concept. We use the sound, but could have been a physical sensation, could have been, could have been an object, and then we bring the we use that to get in touch with awareness. So we use this concept to to to get in touch with awareness, but we can even, we can even simply get in touch with awareness directly, without any any support you see, and that's basically open awareness. And it's a wonderful practice that can be challenging, because our head, our mind, tends to get distracted. But it's to me, is fascinating. So what I propose now is to share a meditation together, actually on open awareness. So as usual, please sit down with your with your spine straight, open, closed or sorry eyes closed or open as you prefer, and breathe normally you

now in this meditation together, we'll practice open awareness, Which means just being

to do that, we lose different techniques of resting with the breath, letting go with the out breath, And gradually shift into open, effortless awareness.

Now bring awareness to the natural rhythm of your breath.

When I say natural, that means however it is however it is right now, shallow, irregular, deep, changing, no, wrong way, just checking with your own rhythm, With the rhythm of your natural breath this moment you

you don't need to concentrate hard. Just know that you're breathing. If you feel self conscious, no worries. Just be aware that you are self conscious. Keep your awareness on your breath,

between breathing out and taking another breath in, there's a natural pause. Be aware of that pause at The end of your next exhale, you

it's normal to have other things going On, emotions, thoughts, physical sensation that feels destroyed, distracting when you name, when you notice that that's happening, just bring yourself back to being with a gap at the end of your out breath, in that little pause you're just being you.

Music. Now you're not trying to hold your breath or do anything to it. You're just noticing it. Keep breathing out, feeling the natural pause just being.

Try to take that sense of just being you got in the pose between breath and see if you can settle into it, that feeling of just being with awareness as you are. You

a little by little, you're learning how to just be a

your mind is receptive and open, even though you're doing something, it's not about spacing out, it's about having A more spacious awareness. You

I stay with special open awareness for a while. Let yourself rest in that pose after each out breath and simply be you.

I remember that just being doesn't mean there's no feeling or thinking, even if your mind feels really crowded, even if you're bored or irritated, bring your awareness, your awareness to the pose. Be there in the pause and

if you happen to have some physical discomfort, it's always okay to shift your position, but at the same time, you're not trying to push anything away. You're letting yourself be just as you are. Stay present, but without doing anything special, I

whatever is present in your body and mind, allow it to come and go, notice what's there without trying to fix or change anything you.

Awareness is like the sky, and thoughts and feelings are like clouds. Pretty clouds, ugly clouds, stormy clouds, the sky is always there.

Keep resting in open awareness, letting the clouds come and go.

When you rest in open awareness, your body might relax a bit. Notice that if you notice that it's not relaxing. Be aware of that. Instead,

breathe out aware of the natural pause where you're just being you

it's like a house with Its windows open let experiences come floating in through a window, then float back out through another one, or If they stay for a while, that's okay, too. You

You don't need to concentrate to maintain awareness. Just let go and let be. When you get lost, come back to the feeling of just being You.

Anything and everything is held within open, expansive, non judgmental awareness. As you rest in open awareness, no need to change your state of mind in any way. Within awareness, everything is allowed you

now, if your eyes have been closed, you can slowly open them, look around, taking some beauty of this moment, and be proud for The time that you dedicated to our meditation together. So I think that we get to the end of the hour, I see some people had to go and and it's fine. So I don't know if you want to if you have a final brief question, or you want to say something, you want to share some ideas.

Mitsan, how do I stay in touch? Yes, you can. Well, you can contact me via email if you want actually. Or you can visit my website, and there's a form and things, or that's basically, I put it there.

Yeah, and I think it's also, I think it's also on my on my bio on the nightclub, introduction of who I am, yeah, please, please feel free to contact me. Let's stay in touch. And anyway, I will be here every first and third Monday of the month at the. Same time. So I hope to see you all again very soon, in two weeks, and just before we go. I would like, if I would like, if you want, really to see just a few seconds to dedicate the merit of our meeting to the well being of all sentient beings. Just think about it for five seconds. We don't meditate just for us. You.

Okay. Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure and a joy, and I Hope to see you In two weeks. Bye. You